March 31, 1918 - Easter Sunday and daylight saving time

After a 10 day hiatus, Mary restarts her diary entries today, Easter Sunday.  Of  course she went to mass,  received communion and entertained friends, but mostly had an uneventful day.   She did not comment on the fact that March 31 was the first day of daylight saving time.

Throughout the month of March local newspapers reported on the progress, and eventual signing by President Woodrow Wilson on March 18, of the daylight saving bill.  Some European countries including Great Britain, France, Italy and Germany, had already instituted daylight saving timeearlier in the war.  According to a March 3, 1918 article in The Philadelphia Inquirer, the United States Chamber of Commerce supported the bill, giving 52 reasons why it should be passed including savings of coal, expedited training of armed forces, increased production in shipyards and factories, improved health of workers, decreased industrial accidents and improved transportation during rush hour.  As March 31 approached, watchmakers advertised free assistance in moving watches forward on Saturday, March 30.  When Sunday, March 31 arrived, newspaper articles documented instances of people missing trains, being late for church, households where several family members each turned the same clock forward an hour, and even a cat that missed its breakfast because it turned up at 9 AM instead of 8 AM.

1918 was the first daylight saving time in the United States.  It began the last Sunday in March and ended the last Sunday in October.  It was repealed in 1919, although some states and cities (including Philadelphia) continued to shift their clocks seasonally.  During World Ward II daylight saving time was again instituted nationally for three years and immediately after the war was repealed with some cities and regions of the country again continuing the practice despite national repeal.  The Uniform Time Act of 1966 set daylight saving time from the last Sunday in April (changed to the first Sunday in April in 1986) to the last Sunday in October. During the energy crisis of the 1970s, national daylight saving time was implemented in 1974 and 1975.  Since 2007 daylight saving time in the United States extends from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November.  Hawaii and the non-Navajo portions of Arizona and overseas U.S. territories have opted out.